Video: Deleting layers and updating comps

All right, gang of mine, I'm still working inside of Layer Comps project.psd, and I have my Layer Comps palette open. I have switched to the Surveillance Composition by clicking in front of it. In this exercise I'm going to show you how and why layer comps can get grumpy with you. Basically, if you delete a layer, you are going to make at least one layer comp angry with you, or peevish, I should say, and they will bark and complain until you solve their little problems. That's what I want to do, because it can be a little irritating for you, the user, to have to put up with irritated layer comps.

Photoshop is one of the world’s most powerful image editors, and it can be daunting to try to use skillfully. Photoshop CS4 One-on-One: Advanced, the second part of the popular and comprehensive series, follows internationally renowned Photoshop guru Deke McClelland as he dives into the workings of Photoshop. He explores such digital-age wonders as the Levels and Curves commands, edge-detection filters, advanced compositing techniques, vector-based text, the Liquify filter, and Camera Raw. Deke also teaches tried-and-true methods for sharpening details, smoothing over wrinkles and imperfections, and enhancing colors without harming the original image. Exercise files accompany the course.

Deleting layers and updating comps

All right, gang of mine, I'm still working inside of Layer Comps project.psd,and I have my Layer Comps palette open. I have switched to the SurveillanceComposition by clicking in front of it. In this exercise I'm going to show youhow and why layer comps can get grumpy with you.Basically, if you delete a layer, you are going to make at least one layer compangry with you, or peevish, I should say, and they will bark and complain untilyou solve their little problems. That's what I want to do, because it can be alittle irritating for you, the user, to have to put up with irritated layer comps.

All right. So let's say I'm looking at this composition here, and we've gotthese plans right here these very pivotal plans that are tucked away in Bronco,the Plaster Dinosaur's Mitten. They are very important to the antagonists inthis story, which is this fellow named; actually he is named up here in thisgroup, his name is Emperor Scratch, and he is that Hadrosaur that we saw in theexercise before last. He envies those plans essentially. So he has got somesort of automatic robotical thing that's going, beep, beep, beep, plansidentified, that kind of thing.

All right, that's great, but I'm sitting here looking at this wonderfulextraordinary subtle composition and I'm thinking that, plans identified, it'sso obvious that we don't need to tell the story that way, we don't need to havethis text. So I want to get rid of that layer.Now, I could just turn it off, I could just hide it, but let's say I want todelete it, I just want it to go away. Well, first, I need to find the darnthing. Which layer is it? I was telling you back when we were talking aboutlayers; you can right click on a layer with Move tool.So I could go up here and get my Move tool, and then I could right click on thelayer, or if I don't have a right mouse button on the Mac, I could Ctrl+Click,and then inside of a Shortcut menu here, you'll see the name of every layerthat has a pixel in it, at that pixel that I clicked on, which is a ton ofdifferent layers. We've got Video lines, TV adjustments, green, duotone.

Now, if I've taken the time to name my layers or if I've just gone ahead andaccepted-- when you create text layers, as we'll see in the future chapter,Photoshop automatically names that layer whatever the text is, after the text.So I could come down here and see, oh, there is plans identified. But it'sstill a lot of work to try to sort of move through all this garbage, define theproper layer right there, and then select it.All right. So if you have that problem with some other kind of layer, you'regoing to have to just sort of play around and try to find the darn thing. Butif you have that problem with text, an easier way to just go to that darn layeras opposed to any of the other options I've shown you so far is to go ahead andjust grab the Text tool right there, my friends, just get it. Then just clickon that text, and it's smart enough; if you move your cursor over the text andclick on that text, its going to say oh, I betcha my user there; this isPhotoshop talking, wants to work on the Text layer, and then its going to takeyou right to it.

You go, ha, ha, and then you press the Escape key, because you don't reallywant to work on a layer, you just want to delete it, and pressing the Escapekey goes ahead and deactivates the text, so it's no longer selected with theType tool. Then you press the Backspace key or the Delete key on the Mac towipe it out, to get rid of it; new trick inside of Photoshop CS4 that makesdeleting layers so very, very dangerously convenient, in my opinion. I'm notsure it's the smartest shortcut, but it is there.Now then, look at the layer comps. Grumpy, grumpy, grumpy layer comps. Now,three of them are grumpy. They've got little warnings right there, and if youhover over the warning, it's going to tell you that it cannot be fullyrestored. What it's telling you is that some layer went away that it thoughtwas important.

Now, the funny thing about it; let's go ahead and undo that modification there,the deletion of that layer, the funny thing was, we were seeing thiscomposition right there; Rough comp and Surveillance and Hadrosaur elements,They were the ones, you may recall, that had cautionary icons in front of them.Well, Surveillance is tracking that plans identified layer, and Hadrosaurelements, that's tracking that plans identified layer right there, behind thesephoto realistic teeth that are coming out of a plant eating dinosaur'sskeleton. Fancy that!But if I go back to Rough comp, there is no text there. What's Rough comp'sproblem, why was it getting grumpy? Well, let's go ahead and press theBackspace or Delete key once again to delete that plans identified layer. Youcan delete it even though it's hidden. Rough comp is indeed grumpy, and thereason it's complaining is because the plans identified layer was extant,meaning it existed when this layer comp was created.

When the other layer comps, the ones that aren't grumping at us, when they werecreated, that layer didn't even exist, it wasn't even in the stack yet.So how do we make everybody happy is what it comes down to. Well, what you dois this; you click in front of Rough comp, like so, to make it active. Then itdoes its best to restore everything, and it goes, I couldn't fully restorethings because I couldn't find that one layer that you threw away. You're ofcourse like well, I threw it away, I didn't want it, so what do you think youshould be doing?But anyway, then you go down here to this little icon, the Update Layer Comp,and you click on it, and it gets over its problem. Then you click here in orderto make Surveillance active, and you update it too, to make it stop barking at you.

Now, what you don't want to do is go to Hadrosaur elements without first makingit active. If you go to Hadrosaur elements and then update this, you'll make itexactly like Surveillance, so that the two aren't different from each other.If you end up making that mistake, why then fortunately, you can go to the Editmenu and choose Undo Update Layer Comp, or press Ctrl+Z, Command+Z on the Mac.So layer comp activities are undoable. They're also backspaceable from theHistory palette. So I'll just go ahead and back up, and then it's still grumpy.All right, fine. Click in front of it to reinstate it to the best ofPhotoshop's ability of course, and then update it, like so. Then you're in good shape.

So that's how you take care of that problem. It's a pretty common problemactually, and pretty simple to take care of. Unfortunately, that's as automatedas it gets. You just have to sort of hold Photoshop's hand through that littletraumatic process; it's traumatic for Photoshop that is.All right. Anyway, that's it for this exercise. In the next exercise we'llbegin to make some modifications to our layered compositions and then save thatout as a layer comp. You'll see if you join me.

Learn by watching, listening, and doing, Exercise files are the same files the author uses in the course, so you can download them and follow along Premium memberships include access to all exercise files in the library.

Already a member ?

Learn by watching, listening, and doing! Exercise files are the same files the author uses in the course, so you can download them and follow along. Exercise files are available with all Premium memberships.
Learn more

Upgrade to our Annual Premium Membership today and get even more value from your lynda.com subscription:

“In a way, I feel like you are rooting for me. Like you are really invested in my experience, and want me to get as much out of these courses as possible this is the best place to start on your journey to learning new material.”— Nadine H.

Thanks for signing up.

We’ll send you a confirmation email shortly.

Sign up and receive emails about lynda.com and our online training library:

new course releases

newsletter

general communications

special notices

Here’s our privacy policy with more details about how we handle your information.

Keep up with news, tips, and latest courses with emails from lynda.com.

Sign up and receive emails about lynda.com and our online training library:

new course releases

newsletter

general communications

special notices

Here’s our privacy policy with more details about how we handle your information.